Report on Joint Research Findings
Fiscal 2023
Principal Research
1. A Study on the Collection of the Autographed Manuscripts of Minoru Betsuyaku
2. Research on the Kurabayashi Seiichiro materials
3. Research and Study Toward the Utilization of Film-related
Materials Centered on Theater Flyers
Selected Research
1. Dance during the Wartime and the Postwar Period,
Seen Through the Eguchi Hiroshi Materials
2. The Literary Circles of the Middle Edo Period,
Focusing on Approaching Kabuki Performers Through Diaries
3. Empirical Research on Regional Theatre Under the
GHQ (SCAP) Occupation: Focusing on the Kyushu Area
4. Research on Musicians and Musical Bands through
Kurihara’s Musical Score Collection: Music for Stage and Cinema during the Early Showa Era
5. Publishing Activities of the Sakagawaya, Publisher
of the Original Tokiwazu-bushi
Principal Research 1
A Study on the Collection of the Autographed Manuscripts of Minoru Betsuyaku
Principal Researcher
Umeyama Itsuki (Associate Professor, Department of Performing Arts, Faculty of Literature, Arts and Cultural Studies, Kindai University)
Collaborative Researchers
Okamuro Minako (Professor, Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Waseda University, and Director, Theatre Museum, Waseda University)
Miyamoto Keiko (Part-time Lecturer, Shirayuri University)
Research Objectives
The purpose of this study is to examine Betsuyaku’s style as a playwright and character representations in his works, through a survey of material donated by Betsuyaku’s family as well as documents concerning Betsuyaku’s work which are maintained by the Theatre Museum. The topic study of the same title adopted in AY2020 investigated documents related to Betsuyaku’s early works, revealing keywords important to understand the core of Betsuyaku’s work, including silence, poverty, hatred, and self-sacrifice. Furthermore, interest in literature other than plays, such as the works of Miyazawa Kenji and Fukazawa Shichiro, had a significant influence on the formation of Betsuyaku’s style as a playwright. Here, research from AY2022 on has organized the shifts in style from the 1970s onwards as well as working to clarify how Betsuyaku’s interest in literary works such as those of Miyazawa and Fukazawa, nursery rhymes, and ancient poetry was reflected in his writing.
Summary of Research
First, continuing research included a survey of unsorted material and an examination of the influence of literary works, nursery rhymes, and folksongs on Betsuyaku’s work since the 1970s. The first survey of unsorted material, conducted mainly by Miyamoto Keiko, organized the handwritten manuscript of The Smile of Dr. Maximilian, a play that was scattered at the time of its donation.
Second, Okamuro Minako submitted a paper to Studies in Dramatic Art that highlighted the influence of Fukazawa Shichiro’s novel Narayama Bushiko on the play Aabukutatta, Niitatta. The paper intended to examine this influence within the play through the keywords of “poverty,” “death by starvation,” and “snow.” In his play The Soyosoyo-zoku no Hanran, Betsuyaku conceived of the silent Soyosoyo people, who continue to whisper in society’s ear by starving to death. Okamuro points out that this idea came to fruition in Aabukutatta Niitatta later and shows that Narayama Bushiko had a particular influence on this process in its depiction of the power of song and the character Orin, who was shut away within snow and silence as having actively accepted her death amid the poverty of her village, she is abandoned in the mountains.
This paper indicates that Narayama Bushiko serves as a means of continuity between the abstract plays of the 1970s and the later so-called petit-bourgeois works. Although they appear disconnected at first glance, these works share a consistent view of “poverty” as simultaneously created and concealed by society.
Research on screenplays addressed the TV show Star Ranch (NHK General, 1981) and the film Coup d’État (directed by Yoshida Kiju, 1973) and compared the filmed version with the scripts. It became clear that although Star Ranch was based on the novel of the same name by Shono Eiji, Betsuyaku chose to focus on the war and postwar society when writing the script, demonstrating a clear continuity with the characteristics of his theater plays. Further, it was found that Betsuyaku’s unique lines highlight the differences in realism between the theater and filmed media, providing a valuable perspective for future analysis of Betsuyaku’s film and TV works based on media theory. Coup d’État is to be analyzed in the future with reference to donated materials concerning Kita Ikki, the protagonist.
As noted here, this study made use of donated materials concerning Betsuyaku to bring to light new findings in Betsuyaku studies. The outcomes can aid future research.
(L)Report (2) on The Soyosoyo Tribe (written in “Memo”notebook)［64362_026］
(R)Script for Star Ranch Part I［タ06-05962-001_001］
Principal Research 2
Research on the Kurabayashi Seiichiro materials
Principal Researcher
Goto Ryuki (Associate Professor, The Edogawa Rampo Memorial Center for Popular Culture Studies, Rikkyo University)
Collaborative Researchers
Kamiyama Akira (Emeritus Professor, Meiji University)
Yoneya Naoko (Cultural policy and arts management advisor)
Research Objectives
Kurabayashi Seiichiro (1912-2000), who joined the Haiyu-za Theater Company in 1946, immediately after World War II, established the Haiyu-za Theater in 1956 and became its CEO in 1981. He was also involved in the establishment of the Japan Council of Performers Rights and Performing Arts Organizations (Geidankyo), Japan’s first umbrella organization for performers in 1965, as an influential figure in the protection of stage performers’ rights, support for cultural activities, and policy proposals. Through investigation and examination of the Kurabayashi holdings, previously unorganized and undisclosed, this study reevaluates Kurabayashi as a playwright and creates a foundation for basic research on postwar theater.
Summary of Research
We continued the cataloging process by sorting, classifying, and recording the materials on the basis of their distinct characteristics with Research collaborators, Fujiya Keiko and Sakuma Satoshi.Before its donation to the Theatre Museum, the Kurabayashi Seiichiro Fonds, consisting of a total of 6,523 items at the time of its pre-donation assessment, were initially entrusted to Geidankyo by Kurabayashi’s family. Of these, the Theatre Museum accepted 3,004 items, including 387 books, 835 magazines, and 1,782 museum artifacts; it excluded 3,519 books and magazines because of duplications and various other reasons.
Since last year, we have been meticulously sifting through this diverse range of unsorted materials, focusing on themes that Kurabayashi was particularly interested in, including entertainment tax, cultural policy, labor theater, and history of entertainment. This process involved identifying documents that potentially facilitates detailed historical research on these topics. However, the sheer volume of the materials made the selection process challenging, prompting me to concentrate on essential tasks like cataloging as I pursued these more targeted historical analyses.
Based on this, this academic year, in conjuction with the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), (“Fundamental Research on Postwar shingeki Based on
Investigation and Research of Kurabayashi Seiichiro Archives” (Principal Investigator: Goto Ryuki, Grant Number: 21K00199) which the project leader has been carrying out since 2021, we have attempted to organise and investigate materials from the former collection of Kurabayashi. This project now extends to organizing and examining materials related to Kurabayashi’s extensive diaries, consisting of 79 volumes penned from June 1947 to March 2000, as part of a wider endeavor that also encompasses materials beyond the diaries.
We, particularly, engaged in the transcription of diaries written during the Occupation period between 1947 and 1952. This also involved selecting materials from the same period that could complement the descriptions in the diaries. As part of the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research project, we held a public symposium at Rikkyo University on February 10, 2024, entitled “The Hidden Reality of shingeki Theater Under the Occupation - Reading the Diaries of Kurabayashi Seiichiro” Our esteemed speakers, including me, were Kamiyama Akira (collaborative researcher), Kodama Ryuichi (collaborative researcher). The symposium focused on using Kurabayashi’s diaries as a lens to explore postwar shingeki as entertainment, as well as the economic aspects of the genre. It questioned the conventional view of new drama history, including.
As this fiscal year marks the conclusion of the
aforementioned grant project, we plan to shift our focus to a more encompassing study of the entire corpus of materials collected from Kurabayashi, including his diaries. This new phase aims to fully uncover and explore Kurabayashi’s body of work and its significance within the context of postwar shingeki dynamics. Last year, we started to undertake the organization and historical analysis of materials related to shingeki performances in China and diaries associated with the Mizuho Gekidan Theater Company. Unfortunately, we failed to proceed with the same kind of in-depth investigation and verification this year. Therefore, these topics are slated for future consideration. This plan involves not only continuing our current research but also incorporating the discovery and examination of additional materials.
Principal Research 3
Research and Study Toward the Utilization of Film-related Materials Centered on Theater Flyers
Principal Researcher
Okada Hidenori (Chief Curator, National Film Archive of Japan)
Collaborative Researchers
Kamiya Makiko (Part-time Lecturer, Musashino Art University)
Shibata Kotaro (JSPS Research Fellow PD)
Research Objectives
In recent years, film studies in Japan and worldwide have performed revisionist research on film history from the perspective of film exhibitions. However, given that the silent film era, with its live vocal and musical performances, has not yet been sufficiently historicized, this study is an empirical survey of cinema exhibitions through cataloging and analysis of cinema flyers held by the Theatre Museum. Furthermore, the study builds on the survey conducted on urban Tokyo cinemas as Selective Research in AY2020-2021, taking up a new focus on other cinema flyers in Tokyo and the Kansai region toward comparative research on cinema exhibitions in East and West Japan.
Summary of Research
In this academic year, the cataloging of theater flyers (93 from Tokyo and 137 from Osaka) continued, which had started in AY2022, and attention was given to historical investigation, including related materials. Each researcher also chose a theme related to the AY2020-2021 Selected Research topics for survey and examination. Shibata Kotaro focused on materials related to the Nara Obana Theater, giving a presentation titled “Movie Theater Management and Exhibition in Regional Cities: Focusing on Material from the Taishoera Nara Obana Theater” (Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences 49th Annual Convention, June 11, 2023, Meiji Gakuin University). Moreover, Kamiya Makiko drew inspiration from the analysis of theater flyers and extant film, publishing a paper on “The Intertextuality of Sadism and Masochism in the Popular Culture in the Late Meiji to Early Taisho Period: Goro Masamune Koshiden (1915) as a Starting Point” (EIZOGAKU: Japanese Journal of Image Arts and Sciences, No. 110, JSIAS, July 2023).
Okada Hidenori participated in planning for the AllJapan Non-film Materials Archive Conference 2024 (January 26, 2024, online), giving a presentation on initiatives for the preservation and release of film-related materials at the National Film Archive Japan (NFAJ). On December 11, 2023, a screening and symposium entitled “Reviving the Sounds of Biwa Film” was organized at the Waseda University Ono Auditorium based on the team’s years of research (with support from the Musicological Society of Japan as an AY2023 music-related event). Highlighting the large number of theater flyers and the practice of Biwa film music found therein, the event examined how the practices of religion, film, and music intertwined in Taisho-era silent film screenings. Part 1 of the symposium began with presentations by Kamiya on “Considering the 1920 Film Nichiren Shonin Tatsu no Kuchi Honan: Pilgrimages and Representations of ‘Miracles’” from the film history perspective and Ueda Manabu (Kobe Gakuin University) on “Nichirenist Propaganda Films and Rissho Katsuei Materials,” which examined the relationship between religion and history in the 1920s. Next, Komoda Haruko (Musashino Academia Musicae) discussed “Taisho-era Biwa Culture” from a musicological perspective, and Shibata explored the interaction between Taisho-era Biwa music trends and film screenings in “Biwa Film Scripts and Film Biwa Organizations.”
In Part 2, a screening of Nichiren Shonin Tatsu no Kuchi Honan (1920, NFAJ) was organized, based on a historical Biwa-ballad script owned by Komatsu Hiroshi (Waseda University), with the aid of satsuma Biwa player Kawashima Nobuko, film narrator Kataoka Ichiro, and Japanese traditional percussionist Katada Kisayo. After the screening, the three performers participated in a discussion on the potential and issues of “reconstructed” screenings of films with Biwa music.
(L) Flyer from the “Reviving the Sounds of Biwa Film”screening and symposium
(R) Post-screening discussion at the “Reviving the Sounds of Biwa Film” screening and symposium(Ono Auditorium, Waseda University)
Selected Research 1
Dance during the Wartime and the Postwar Period, Seen Through the Eguchi Hiroshi Materials
Principal Researcher
Miyagawa Mariko (Assistant Professor, Department of Body Expression and Cinematic Arts, College of Contemporary Psychology, Rikkyo University)
Collaborative Researchers
Kitahara Mariko (Adjunct Researcher, Theatre Museum, Waseda University)
Lamolière, Maëva (Doctoral Program, Department of Dance, the University of Paris 8)
Research Objectives
The objectives of this study are to survey the “Eguchi Hiroshi Holdings” (280 items, mainly photographs and newspaper clippings related to dance) and to depict the Japanese dance scene throughout the politically tumultuous Showa era. Eguchi Hiroshi (1903-1982) was a dance critic for half a century, from the prewar through postwar periods. The investigation of these materials is expected to provide a new perspective on 20th-century Japanese dance history, which has so far focused on renowned dancers. This study takes particular note of the plentiful materials from the 1930s and 1940s, during and surrounding World War II. Through the Eguchi materials’ broad and meticulous records of the dance scene during this period, a more detailed understanding of the transformations of the dance scene can be obtained.
Summary of Research
Eguchi Hiroshi is notable for his continuous, comprehensive observations of and writings on dance as a newspaper dance critic, and for his expertise ranging from Western to Japanese dance. It proved difficult, however, to trace the activities of young dancers influenced by new postwar dance trends, in particular postmodern dance and the advent of ankoku butoh, through the Eguchi Hiroshi Holdings. To compensate for this, a closed research seminar was held on August 25 of this academic year with the participation of Nakamura Tomoko, who worked in modern dance production in the 1960s. Along with producing performances by Atsugi Bonjin, Wakamatsu Miki, and Kasai Akira, she organized three dance exhibitions in the late 1960s. The seminar discussion revealed that the “Atsugi Bonjin Dance Recital with Five Choreographers” held in 1964 included the work of not only Takahashi Hyoh, Wakamatsu Miki, Yokoi Shigeru, and Yura Kazuo but also Hijikata Tatsumi, shedding light on the earliest period of ankoku butoh and on exchange among dancers. This seminar was held with the cooperation of Morishita Takashi from the Hijikata Tatsumi Archive of the Keio University Art Center.
In addition, this second anniversary of the project was marked by a symposium held on November 22 at the National Dance Center (Centre national de la danse) of France entitled “Modern Dance in Showa-era Japan as Seen Through the Eguchi Hiroshi Holdings” (« À la recherche de la danse moderne au Japon: Scènes de danse de l’ère Shôwa (1926-1989) »). Its purposes were to compare Japan and France, where much research has been conducted on wartime and postwar dancers, and to broaden historical understanding, which has been biased toward the modern dance pioneers such as Ishii Baku, Eguchi Takaya, and Miya Misako, as well as toward postwar ankoku butoh, in France.
Japanese presenters at the symposium included Miyagawa Mariko, Kitahara Mariko, and the collaborative researcher Hirai Kanoko, and discussants from the University of Paris 8 included Maëva Lamolière along with Professor Isabelle Launay and Associate Professor Sylviane Pagès. Kitahara began by introducing the Eguchi Hiroshi Holdings, and then presented her research on “Youbu (Western dance)” in Japan from its beginnings to its establishment (“« Ce monde de la danse chaotique sans ordre, sans organisation » sous les yeux du critique dans les années 1930”). Miyagawa followed with a presentation on dance in Japan during World War II (“Regards sur les danses au Japon pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale : de la collection d’Eguchi Hiroshi”). Hirai’s presentation covered experimental dance in the 1960s and 1970s (“La revue de critique de danse : Nijusseiki Buyô et le développement de ses activités”). With nearly 30 participants, a lively discussion took place on the topic of dance in Japan and France, in particular the reception of modern dance.
Further, the presentations given at this symposium, representing the outcomes of two years of research, were bound as a pamphlet entitled “Modern Dance in Showa-era Japan as Seen Through the Eguchi Hiroshi Holdings” and distributed to symposium participants and to libraries and other relevant institutions in both countries.
Symposium at CND (photograph by Ikumi Togawa)
Selected Research 2
The Literary Circles of the Middle Edo Period, Focusing on Approaching Kabuki Performers Through Diaries
Principal Researcher
Björk, Tove Johanna (Professor, Saitama University Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)
Collaborative Researchers
Inaba Yusuke (Associate Professor, Wako University Faculty of Liberal Arts)
Hioki Takayuki(Associate Professor, School of Information and Communication, Meiji University)
Research Objectives
Taking the newly discovered “Diary of Ichikawa Danjuro Hakuen II”—i.e., the diary text or “Hakuen Diary”—into consideration, the objectives of the present study include (1) the examination of the provenance and authenticity of the material; and (2) clarification of the literary circles of the middle Edo period, focusing on Kabuki performers. The Hakuen Diary, along with the Kakibyoshi Diary, was copied by the doctor of the kyoka parody poet Shikatsube no Magao and his son. After the loss of Danjuro II’s diary to fire in the early Bunka period, it constitutes an important document as a record of the daily lives of Kabuki performers in the middle Edo period as well as the literary sphere in which they lived. With this diary as a starting place, this study intended to clarify the Kyoho-era Kabuki actors’ connections to haikai poets and other literati in order to clarify the social importance of the literary circles the actors participated in.
Summary of Research
The first of the three main research results of this academic year was the continued annotation and commentary of the diaries. The second investigation involved the Teisa Ten haikaijo (university of Tokyo Library Shachiku Archive), which details the relationships between the kabuki actors and haikai poets who appear in the diaries; the research team provided commentary on the first 25 poems in the “Shinansha no” (“Commanding chariot”) 100-poem sequence and investigated the identities behind the pen-names. The third result was a symposium exploring the associations and liminality of Edo kabuki and haikai in circles and printed material.
The principal investigator Björk, continued to write annotations of the diaries of Ichikawa Danjuro II, publishing Part 6 in the Saitama Daigaku (Kyoyo Gakubu) Kiyo [Saitama University Faculty of Liberal Arts Review]) Vol. 59 No. 1, and Part 7 likewise in Vol. 59 No. 2. These sections cover May 19-29 and June 1-7, 1734, and they mention gossip with the Edo bookseller Suharaya Seijiro about the manabon text of the Tale of the Soga Brothers (19th day 5th month); impressions of the work of the artist Hanabusa Itcho (21th day 5th month), requests to add poems to the collection of the haikai poet Mizuma Sentoku (24th day 5th month); writing poems about the lesser cuckoo (4th day 6th month); and spending all night writing haikai poems under a mosquito net with the poets Tanaka Senbai and Washii (7th day 6th month). These diary entries enable us to envisage specific everyday interactions among kabuki actors and Edo literary figures.
Co-investigator Inaba Yusuke led the study of the “Shinansha no” 100-poem sequence in the Teisa Ten haikaijo, which dates from 1728. Commentary on the first 25 poems was published in Studies in Dramatic Art Vol. 47 as “Commentary on the ‘Shinansha no’ 100-poem sequence recorded by Teisa (1),” with Inaba Yusuke, Ogihara Daichi, Kobayashi Toshiki, and Tove Björk as coauthors; the results of an investigation into the poems’ authors were included as “A List of Participants in the Kafu Memorial 100-poem Sequence Group.” The “Shinansha no” sequence was written on 14th day of the 12th month, 1728, by the Toshima Kafu (the haikai poet also known as Yukido) 100-Poem Memorial Sequence Group; the authors included the kabuki actors Ichikawa Danjuro II (Sansho) and Nakamura Shichisaburo II (Shocho), the playwrights Murase Genshiro (Gosen), Nakamura Seizaburo II (Tokyo), and Eda Yaichi (Fuhyaku), Rigo the doorman of the Nakamura-za theater, and patrons such as Oguchiya Jibei (Gyo’u), ranked as a big spender in Edo and thought by some to be the model for Sukeroku performed by Danjuro II. Some of the poems hint at contemporary productions and actors’ critiques of plays such as Sukeroku and Dojoji, further clarifying the intimate connections between kabuki and the world of haikai.
The symposium “Edo kabuki and haikai: Exploring Their Associations and Border-Crossing Potentials” included presentations covering the Genroku through Bakumatsu periods. The symposium furthered discussion on how kabuki was reflected in haikai, how kabuki actors put haikai to use, and how the influence of haikai appeared in published advertising for kabuki. Presentations included “Reading actors/actors writing: Development in the Genroku and Kyoho periods” (Inaba Yusuke), “Ichikawa Danjuro II’s haikai: hobby and work”(Tove Björk), “haikai in role assignments: Concerning kyogen playwrights’ writing methods” (Furukawa Ryota), “Consideration of Utagawa Toyokuni III’s print ‘Haika shoga kyodai’” (Naka Mieko), and “Concerning the ‘Haika Haiyu Tanko Hyobanki’ Published in 1863” (Ito Yoshitaka).
Mentioned above are the three main outcomes of this study for AY2023. Future plans include continuing the clarification of Edo literary circles through the specific relationships between kabuki actors, Edo literati and poets, and so on, as depicted in the diaries of Danjuro II.
Selected Research 3
Empirical Research on Regional Theatre Under the GHQ (SCAP) Occupation: Focusing on the Kyushu Area
Principal Researcher
Ogawa Chikashi (Professor, Faculty of Childhood Education, Yokohama Soei University)
Collaborative Researchers
Sugawa Wataru (Associate Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Fukuoka Jo Gakuin University)
Hatanaka Sayuri (Part-time Lecturer, Osaka University)
Research Objectives
The objective of this study was to clarify the characteristics of the theater produced immediately after World War II in the Kyushu area, particularly theater produced by laymen who were not professional performers. This will be done through analysis of censored scripts from Kyushu theater companies during the GHQ (SCAP) occupation (the Dizer Collection).
Summary of Research
This academic year, 29 scripts from the Dizer Collection were digitized. The percentages of Collection content by genre and prefecture were also calculated toward a general overview of theater in Kyushu immediately after World War II. Research on these topics proceeded in accordance with each assigned researcher’s area of expertise as follows.
Regarding amateur theater, workplace theater, and union theater, information written on the scripts, such as company names and authors, was referenced against information from theatrical magazines (Kyushu Engeki, Engeki Bunka, Engekikai, Teatro, etc.) and Kodai Sanshiro’s book Koko ni honto no sora wo (Kyushu Bungakusha, 1966) to pinpoint the characteristics of each company as far as possible. This resulted in useful information on the characteristics of the Fukuoka Kagetsu Gekidan, Sosaku-za, Kyodo-za, Kyodo Gekidan, Gekiken Tango-za, Seishun-za, Tomodachi-za, Gekiken Tomodachi-za, Wakamatsu Kamome-za, and Oden-za companies in Fukuoka and the Kamome-za Engeki Kenkyukai and Pinion-za in Nagasaki. Moreover, the content of the censored scripts each company had submitted was organized so as to provide a threedimensional understanding of their productions; crossreferencing the script contents and the company information helped to clarify the actual status of theatrical activities in occupation-era Kyushu.
With regard to theater companies in Kumamoto, research focused on elucidating the activities of the Orion-za company. Founded in 1946 by the local lawyer Hayashi Yasuo and others and inspired by the Takarazuka Revue, this company was disbanded around 1951. The company sought the guidance of Japanese classical dancer Hanayagi Jujiro, who performed at Toho and the Ernie Pyle Theater after World War II; Hanayagi was also involved with production for some of their performances (O-Some Hisamatsu nijuso). Many of their works also reflected issues such as the popularization of the new Constitution, the rationing system, and postwar democratic ideology, suggesting that the authors were actively inclined to address hot-button issues of the time (Showa Dochu Yume Nikki). The Orion-za toured actively outside Kumamoto Prefecture as well, frequently pretending to be the actual Takarazuka Revue. Records show that they performed as the “Takarazuka Revue” at the 1949 Matsuyama Tourism Expo; they may have been using the name of a famous company as advertising to increase their audience.
Regarding popular theater genres, review work on the vast quantity of scripts is proceeding gradually. Detailed information is currently not available for many of the popular theater companies and organizations active mainly in Kyushu immediately after World War II; however, the research team has discovered that some may be connected to companies still active in and around Kyushu today. In popular theater, traditionally based on semi-improvised kuchidate, the scripts created for censorship purposes are valuable resources; at the same time, their relation to the actual performance content must be approached with caution. The study plans to focus on these scripts next year and thereafter to acquire as much information as possible on the status of popular theater in the Kyushu region at the time.
Showa Dochu Yume Nikki
Hayashi Yasuo (playwright), Nakajima Shigeka (choreographer). Produced in June 1948 [GHQ02482]
Selected Research 4
Research on Musicians and Musical Bands through Kurihara’s Musical Score Collection: Music for Stage and Cinema during the Early Showa Era
Principal Researcher
Nakano Masaaki (Professor, College of Humanities, Shukutoku University)
Collaborative Researchers
Shirai Fumito (Associate Professor, School of World Liberal Arts, Nagoya University of Foreign Studies)
Yamakami Yohei (Project Lecturer, Komaba Organization for Educational Excellence, The University of Tokyo)
Mori Masato (Independent Researcher)
Kojima Hiroyuki (Doctoral Program, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
Research Objectives
Kurihara Shigekazu (1897-1983) was a musician active during the early Showa period in the Enoken Orchestra and Shochiku Kinema’s performance department, as well as the P.C.L. (Photo Chemical Laboratory) Film Studio in the early day of sound film. This study surveyed and analyzed musical scores formerly belonging to the Enoken Orchestra and Kurihara Shigekazu (approximately 1,000 items). Based on the results of the basic survey of sheet music materials conducted up to 2021, the research will proceed with a combined survey into contemporary documents and related sheet music collections. Through empirical research into the activities of Enomoto Ken’ichi (1904-1970) and the musicians and bands surrounding Enomoto and Kurihara, the goal is to clarify the production and creative process which occurred across contemporary theater, music, and film.
Summary of Research
〇 Investigation of related materials
By adopting a research topic based on the musical score research from a music historical perspective, this research aims to conduct a wide-ranging examination on the musicians and musical bands who played a main role as performers, as well as the role of music in the comprehensive works of art and entertainment (e.g., plays and cinema) in which they performed. A basic survey of the old musical scores was completed in the previous year, and a catalog was created. This year, in addition to scrutinizing and re-examining the materials, research has actively progressed on musicians, musical bands, theater, and film using the results of previous research. Particularly, 2024 marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of comedian Enomoto Ken’ichi, who presided over the Enoken Orchestra, which holds most of the old music scores of Kurihara Shigekazu. Thus, the research focused on the Enoken Orchestra and the Enoken Theater Company (Pierre Brillante), concentrating on researching institutions with scores in their collections, as well as researching and collecting related materials like scripts and programs. Kurihara Shigekazu, including the first performance, was credited in a range of different ways in the early days of the Enoken Theater Company, including not only his traditional role of “conducting” but also “arranging” and “music selection,” and that there were almost no musical instructions in the scripts, with much left to Kurihara’s discretion. Examination of the materials highlighted the diversity of Kurihara’s work with musical bands, as well as tracing the unique and complex aspects of the process of producing musical revue works in the early to mid-20th century, which differed from the present.
〇 main research results including public research meetings
One significant result of this research has been a public research meeting “Musician Kurihara Shigekazu and Enoken Comedy: Reconsidering Musical Revues of the Showa Era on the 120th Anniversary of Enoken’s Birth” (presenters: Mori Masato, Nakano Masaaki; commentator: Kyotani Yoshinori), held both in-person and online in March 2024. Other related research results include Phantom Records: Censorship and Prohibitions during the Showa Era (Kodansha, 2023) by Mori Masato; The Complete Works of Lin Tuanchiu (edited by Shih Wan-shun, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, 2023), edited by Nakano Masaaki in Japanese, Beethoven and Popular Culture: The Prism of Acceptance (Shunjusha, 2024), edited by Shirai Fumito et al. These research results further aim to shed light on Kurihara’s multi-layered processes of performance and production that span diverse domains including theater, music, and film.
“Pierbriant” 1st performance program, exclusively for Shochiku
Credit to Kurihara Shigekazu in the program
Flyer for the public study meeting “Musician Kurihara Shigekazu and Enoken Comedy: Reconsidering Musical Revues of the Showa Era on the 120th Anniversaryof Enoken’s Birth”
Selected Research 5
Publishing Activities of the Sakagawaya, Publisher of the Original Tokiwazu-bushi
Principal Researcher
Takeuchi Yuuichi (Professor, Research Institute for Japanese Traditional Music, Kyoto City University of Arts)
Collaborative Researchers
Suzuki Eiichi (Adjunct Researcher, Theatre Museum, Waseda University)
Tsuneoka Ryou (Director, Tokiwazu Association)
Abe Satomi (Part-time Lecturer, Musashino Academia Musicae)
Maeshima Miho (Part-time Lecturer, Tokyo University of the Arts)
Shigefuji Gyoo (Part-time Lecturer, Edogawa University)
Konishi Shiho (Collaborative Researcher, Kyoto City University
Research Objectives
In 1860, near the end of the Edo period, the Sakagawaya inherited woodblock prints of the Tokiwazu from its original printer, the Igaya, for reprinting; it continued to release new editions from that point into the Showa era, printing original copies (rehearsal copies) from woodcuts up through 1987 or so. These woodblock prints are the woodblocks-approximately 800 research materials known as the Sakagawaya Tokiwazu-bushi original woodblock holdings-which were donated to the Theatre Museum. The research team has conducted bibliographic research in AY2020 and 2021, creating a title catalog as well as a detailed catalog for each text woodblock. In this academic year, the team focused mainly on woodblock with supplementary material such as title tags and colophons as well as woodblock sides, creating an ancillary catalog for these along with working toward a more multifaceted overview of the publishing work of the Sakagawaya.
Summary of Research
(1) Status of woodblocks of prints, illustrations, etc.By the Meiji era, new editions of the original Tokiwazu-bushi print often bore colored illustrations on their covers and endpapers. The adoption of nishiki-e style color printing just as woodblock printing began to decline was ironically timed, even given the publishing issues unique to joruri books. This academic year’s survey has brought to light about 90 color-print woodblocks among the Sakagawaya collection donated to the Theatre Museum. Most of them appear to be illustrations for the original copies or for materials for events and so on. Regarding the former, the team has worked to identify the titles through comparison with existing copies; the contents of many of the latter remain unclear because of the scarcity of extant copies. Perhaps to avoid ink stains, many of the color-print woodblocks are wrapped in paper. The wrappings bear notes and seals from paper wholesalers and woodblock sellers thought to date from the late Meiji to the early Showa eras, providing valuable material for related fields.
(2) Creating a catalog to publish woodblock bibliographical information through the Waseda University Cultural Resource Database
The team has confirmed that there are a total of 940 woodblocks, reviewing photographic images with overviews of both faces of each block, notes on the sides and margins, etc. Some blocks are not engraved on either face. Blocks bearing text have been sorted in random order by title, with a separate collection for the small woodblocks used for title tags and colophons. This process more or less retains the sorting which took place in the 1990s, when the materials were moved from the Sakagawaya to temporary storage (in Iwatsuki City and then Kunitachi City) and then stored at the Theatre Museum. The 41 box numbers affixed at the time of the initial survey are to be listed in the Cultural Resource Database as well.
Fig. 1 Woodblock for Tsurionna print, depicting a kimono pattern (vermilion) and the shadow/haze of a human figure (color unclear)［29888-939］
Fig. 2 Woodblock for Tsurionna print, depicting a man and woman with fishing rod (black) and a kimono pattern/square crest/fishing rod (green)［29888-939］
Fig. 3 This is an illustration thought to result from printing with a total of four woodblock faces (Figures 1 and 2, as well as both faces of woodblock [29888-940]). The illustration was engraved for an event program and then reused for the cover of a practice book, as shown in this figure. At that time, the four characters for Shinkyoku Tsurionna were apparently added by printing part of the rehearsal script woodblock. From the collection of Takeuchi Yuichi.